Generally, a printing system in which an image forming apparatus and a client computer are connected with each other, having finishers for cutting, bookbinding and the like, is known. In this type of printing system, various settings regarding finishers can be made upon generation of a print job, by utilizing characteristic information of postprocessing devices (finishers) available in the system. As methods for utilizing the finisher characteristic information upon generation of print job, (1) a method for controlling printing attribute(s) upon printing and (2) a method for controlling user interface function items of a printer driver, and the like are known.
In the above method (1), i.e., the method for controlling printing attribute(s) upon printing by utilizing the finisher characteristic information, a method for automatically setting printing attribute(s) by a printer driver in correspondence with the finisher characteristic information upon generation of print job is known. According to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-078449, the printer driver obtains the following two items regarding a bookbinder:                “Pick up from ‘top’ or ‘bottom’ of set document stack”; and        “Set document faced-up or faced down”.Then the printer driver automatically performs setting of a page output order (ascending/descending) and page output surface (faced up/faced down) based on the two items of information so as to set a print output on the bookbinder and normally perform bookbinding processing. By this printer driver's control, it is unnecessary for a user to grasp these two items of information regarding the bookbinder.        
Further, as the above method (2), a method for controlling the user interface function items of the printer driver by utilizing the finisher characteristic information has been proposed. In this method, the type of a finisher attached to a printer is manually or automatically identified, thereby the user interface function items can be controlled.
Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-125765 discloses a user's selection of a bookbinding format, then converting print data for bookbinding in accordance with the bookbinding format selected by the user, then print-outputting the print data for bookbinding converted in accordance with the bookbinding format, and outputting a bookbinding original copy. According to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-125765, a preview screen of bookbinding product, generated based on the bookbinding format designated by the user, is displayed. Accordingly, the user's desired bookbinding original copy can be outputted without mistake, and improvement in working efficiency, cost reduction and resource conservation can be realized.
As described above, when printing is performed using a printer driver, the contents of works performed by the image forming apparatus such as a printer or a multi function peripheral device (MFP) and an in-line finisher connected to the apparatus can be set on a setting screen of the printer driver and print instruction can be performed. That is, the both image forming apparatus and in-line finisher can be controlled from the printer driver. Note that the in-line finisher is a postprocessing device which is physically connected with the image forming apparatus, as an optional device of the image forming apparatus, and which conveys a printed matter outputted by the image forming apparatus to the finisher without manual operation. Further, the in-line finisher by itself cannot perform communication with a host computer, however, the finisher can generate a print job where the content of processing in the finisher (for example, staple processing) is designated using the image forming apparatus or the printer driver.
However, for the user, to select such many devices and perform desired settings of these devices, it is necessary and troublesome to grasp functions of the devices and settings to be made. Accordingly, when the settings are complicated or when some settings have been omitted, outputting is performed again. Thus wasteful output may occur.
Further, in some cases, bookbinding work is performed by using a postprocessing device such as a near-line finisher or an off-line finisher to which a paper sheet outputted from the image forming apparatus is not automatically conveyed, in addition to the in-line finisher. Note that the near-line finisher has a unit for communication with an external device such as a computer or the image forming apparatus, and the content of processing by the finisher can be set from the external device. That is, in the near-line finisher, the content of processing can be set from an operation unit of the finisher, and further, the content of processing (job ticket) can be inputted and set from another device such as the host computer via the network. Note that the near-line finisher, which is different from the in-line finisher, is not physically connected with the image forming apparatus. A paper sheet outputted from the image forming apparatus is conveyed by an operator. Further, the off-line finisher is a postprocessing device which is not physically connected with the external device as in the case of the near-line finisher, and which has no unit for communication with the external device as in the case of the near-line finisher.
When the postprocessing device such as the near-line finisher or the off-line finisher is used, the abilities of these postprocessing devices cannot be recognized on the driver side, while the recognition of the abilities of the in-line finisher are considered as options upon printer driver design. Accordingly, it is necessary for the operator to determine a device to obtain a finally desired bookbinding form and perform print settings while imagining processings executed in the respective postprocessing devices. The operator's higher-level knowledge and experiences are required.
On the other hand, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-125765 discloses setting bookbinding data as an original copy of bookbinding product through plural selection screen images. However, in the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-125765, the operability for a user, who has an image of final bookbound product but who cannot perform determination of a device to be used and perform setting of the device based on the image, is not considered. According to the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-125765, an output format is selected in a predetermined bookbinder, and the output format processed based on settings selected by the user is displayed as a preview screen. Further, processing when the system configuration becomes complicated or changed is not disclosed. Further, when plural postprocessing devices are available, or when a new postprocessing device is added to the system and the number of available bookbinding formats is increased, processing cannot be performed in a flexible manner in accordance with such situation.